The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it will launch astronauts from US soil to the International Space Station (ISS) for the first time in nearly a decade.
NASA said it will launch astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken from the US on a mission to the ISS on May 27, the first time astronauts were sent from US soil to the ISS in almost a decade.
The astronauts will be aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft, which will be carried atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket will lift off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 4:32 p.m.
This will be the first space mission launched from the US since NASA's Space Shuttle program retired in 2011 and will also be the first crewed mission for SpaceX since it was founded 18 years ago.
Despite its historical significance for the country, NASA will not allow crowds of spectators to line the beaches and viewing sites along Florida's Space Coast to witness the launch due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The space agency will only permit a handful of reporters on the site and will not invite any member of the public.
Dale Ketcham, a vice president at Space Florida, a local industry group, said: "This has become yet another footnote in the story of coronavirus and its impact on America. But NASA is continuing to press ahead with Commercial Crew because there is a profound obligation to keep space station operational."
NASA maintains ISS activities
The coronavirus pandemic has forced NASA to shut down many of its activities but it has maintained all ISS-related activity. On Friday, astronauts Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan returned from their stay on the ISS aboard a Russian spacecraft.
Since 2000, a rotating crew of astronauts from various countries have been continually hosted by the ISS, with the US and Russia serving as the primary operators of the space station.
However, since 2011, Russia became the only country that was able to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. According to NASA's inspector general, the agency has paid up to $86 million per seat and about $55.4 million on average to fly US astronauts aboard Russia's Soyuz spacecraft.
To address this, NASA several years ago asked private companies to create a new generation of crew-worthy spacecraft. It awarded SpaceX with $2.6 billion and Boeing with $4.2 billion in 2014.
While 2017 was the original target to complete space vehicles for transporting astronauts, it took longer for both companies to develop their spacecrafts.
SpaceX came out in front of the development race and successfully completed a test of its Crew Dragon spacecraft's emergency abort system in January while Boeing's Starliner spacecraft suffered major setbacks during an unmanned orbital flight test the month before.
The ISS mission
Before the scheduled crewed flight to the space station on May 27, SpaceX will conduct the final test for the Crew Dragon mission, called Demo-2.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine announced the mission via Twitter post saying: "BREAKING: On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil! With our @SpaceX partners, @Astro_Doug and @AstroBehnken will launch to the @Space_Station on the #CrewDragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Let's #LaunchAmerica"
Both Hurley and Behnken served as former military test pilots and veteran astronauts who have flown in previous space shuttle missions. They will spend as many as 110 days in space but NASA stated that the "specific mission duration will be determined once on station based on the readiness of the next commercial crew launch."
While the development of SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner were funded by NASA, they are privately owned and operated. Both companies have previously announced that they have plans to take tourists aboard the spacecraft alongside NASA astronauts.
